Joint Expedition excavating Level VIII in Area TA (before reaching the Old Babylonian levels, viewed from the north.

Nippur Tablet Project

Project Type Research Project

Status Active

Field Domain Philology

Time Period Antiquity

Regions Iraq

Overview

The Nippur Tablet Project (NTP) researches, digitizes, and publishes inscribed materials from ISAC’s past and ongoing excavations at Nippur in an object- and content-sensitive database designed to support new research and engagement with the collections. The project includes a forthcoming website that will place tablets in their archaeological contexts alongside related finds, as well as the Kassite publication project, which is preparing all tablets in the collection from Babylonia dating to the latter half of the second millennium BCE for publication. NTP research also informed ISAC’s Back to School in Babylonia exhibition and accompanying volume, with additional publications underway.

House F from the west, mid-excavation (ISACM P. 47263, 3N/217).

A man looking into an excavation area where cuneiform tablets were found. — Excavation photo of Room 205 in House F (Level X Floor 2) showing the discovery of several tablets (ISACM P. 47247, 3N/301).

An image showing the five most common types of school tablets. — The five most common types of school tablets, shown to scale. Left to right: A multicolumn tablet, a prism, a teacher–student exercise, a single-column extract tablet, and a round tablet.

Someone holding a round tablet inscribed with cuneiform. — Lenticular tablet squeezed by a frustrated student who consequently mixed up their homework (ISACM A30154).

Of crucial importance to Back to School in Babylonia, the numerous tablets coming from House F in Nippur, identified by modern scholars as a scribal school, offer an unparalleled snapshot of learning processes, daily life, and teaching methods in ancient Mesopotamia.

Marc Maillot ISAC Museum Director

Project Goals

The Nippur Tablet Project (NTP) is one of the primary assignments of the Tablet Collection team. This project aims to research, digitize, and publish the inscribed materials of ISAC’s past and ongoing excavations at Nippur in an object and content-sensitive database, with an eye to promoting further research and interest in the collections. The Nippur Tablet Project has also led to numerous subprojects, including the development of its forthcoming dedicated website, a resource that will allow researchers to view tablets in their archaeological context alongside related finds, and the Kassite publication project, which aims to publish all the tablets in the collection from Babylonia that date to the latter half of the second millennium BCE. The members of the Tablet Collection team have also presented their research on Nippur in ISAC’s well-received Back to School in Babylonia exhibition and its corresponding published volume. Further publication projects by members of the Tablet Collection team are ongoing and will appear in due time.